{"id":1411,"date":"2011-03-29T07:53:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T07:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=1411"},"modified":"2011-03-29T07:53:18","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T07:53:18","slug":"time-to-tax-americas-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2011\/03\/29\/time-to-tax-americas-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to Tax America's Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>There is a lot of talk about the ways in which the Government does Christians wrong. Taking prayer out of schools, legalizing abortion and physician-assisted suicide, supporting same-sex marriage, to name a few of the more contested issues.<\/p>\n

How come nobody talks about the ways in which the Church does the Government wrong?<\/p>\n

Ed Young Jr. is CEO of Fellowship Baptist Church of Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. An estimated 24,000 people attend one of the five Fellowship Church locations each week. That 10,000 square-foot parsonage he lives in is no humble abode. \u00a0It is valued at $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

Ed\u2019s father is CEO of Second Baptist of Houston, reportedly<\/a> the second-largest church in the nation. (Joel Osteen\u2019s church is first). As CEO, Ed Sr. overseas an annual budget of $53 million.<\/p>\n

Last year Ed Junior went before Fellowship\u2019s congregation and told them outright that they needed to have their tithes automatically withdrawn. Cards were handed out and people were told to provide the routing numbers for their bank accounts<\/a>. The way to be a spiritual leader, Young yelled, is to \u201cbring the tithe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church in America has become big business. Billions of dollars worth of tax-free enterprise. The local church, big and small, is the lone place where fiscal accountability is totally self-governed. There is very little outside oversight. For far too many of these celebrity pastors, that\u2019s like putting a kilo of cocaine in front of Charlie Sheen and telling him to behave himself.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the IRS sums up its approach to churches: \u00a0Congress has enacted special tax laws applicable to\u00a0churches, religious organizations, and ministers in recognition of their unique status in American society and\u00a0of their rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of\u00a0the Constitution of the United States. Churches and religious organizations are generally exempt from income\u00a0tax and receive other favorable treatment under the tax\u00a0law.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Once a minister establishes himself at the Rock Star of multi-million corporation, who is that brave soul who stands before that minister and says, \u201cNope. You can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Who among them pulls young Ed aside and says, \u201cWhat the hell where you thinking, Bonehead?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Once an organization has been declared exempt, \u00a0the Wicked and Saved have free reign to rape and pillage their own churches, er, villages.\u00a0Bernie Madoff , AIG, and the mortgage companies were held to a higher standard of fiscal accountability than America\u2019s churches.\u00a0That\u2019s how low the bar is for the spiritual and pseudo-spiritual among us.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When one considers what taxes are used for \u2014 educating the masses, feeding the elderly, serving the handicapped, binding the wounds of soldiers, housing the homeless, providing clean water and paved roads, to name a few \u2014 it would seem that paying taxes is something any church would do voluntarily.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If a church really wanted to set an example, if they really wanted to serve their community, wouldn\u2019t they insist upon paying their fair share instead of claiming Sanctuary exemption?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We are facing hard economic times. A lot of much-needed revenue could be generated by taxing the Church.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If we are really interested in living out a life of faith, instead of just preaching about it, isn\u2019t it about time the Church picked up its cross and carried it instead of pushing the tax burden off on everyone else?<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a lot of talk about the ways in which the Government does Christians wrong. Taking prayer out of schools, legalizing abortion and physician-assisted suicide, supporting same-sex marriage, to name a few of the more contested issues. How come nobody talks about the ways in which the Church does the Government wrong? Ed Young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[290,323,490,839,1540,1625,1687,1688],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charlie-sheen","tag-churches","tag-ed-young","tag-irs","tag-second-baptist-church-of-houston","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-tax-exempt","tag-taxes"],"yoast_head":"\nTime to Tax America's Churches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a lot of talk about the ways in which the Government does Christians wrong. 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